What The Wicked Fear
by Crazy Rob
Summary: A very alternate ending to Samurai Jack. Rated M for language and insinuated naughtiness. Contains 5000% your daily recommended allowance of salt. Contains your daily recommended allowance of Jashi and Scotsman.


What The Wicked Fear

…

I don't own Samurai Jack. I do own my own salt.

There's a lot of it.

Contains a very alternate ending. Be forewarned.

…

A moment's hesitation in combat, it is well known among seasoned fighters, can mean death or dismemberment.

One moment spent boggling at an unforeseen development instead of reacting can mean the end of a life or an empire.

Aku had learned this lesson, watching countless hordes fall to a Samurai.

Thousands of missed opportunities for a killing blow, all because someone stopped to stare at a decapitation or a parried bullet.

 _That will not be me._ He promised himself. If worse came to worse, he would not gawk, gloat, or elaborate on how thoroughly he'd beaten the Samurai. He'd just kill him.

That _was_ the plan, at least.

 _Out of the way, you stupid little-_

He brought down black razor-sharp scythes at the interfering Ashi, somehow having broken free of his control, he would teach her to interfere…

…and she backhanded…

…no, her hand TURNED into a spear and swatted his attack aside.

 _You could have stabbed him, THEN televised his dead body. Kill, THEN gloat. KILL THEN GLOAT. But no, no, you had to get_ _ **theatrical!**_

Hopefully the rain of single-atom sharp spears of black abyssal hatred that pinned the dead and dying to the ground had gotten the desired point across- do NOT mess with Aku, even if you are piloting a massive stone Samurai that can land a few cheap shots…

He glared. He had wanted to use the Samurai's true love/his daughter (he would figure out how the hell his own progeny could go so far astray later) to kill him, break him mentally and physically, but now he saw that was the same mistake he had made when he had attempted to do a live televising of his death.

Theatrics.

No more of that.

He glared harder, and destructive red light shot from his eyes, with the intent to remove the 'i' from her name…

…and she glared back, and an opposing pair of red beams of scorn clashed with his in an explosion.

Jack perked up. "Ashi! You have Aku's powers!"

And he did not hear Ashi's gasp and realization that she did, in fact, have her father's powers…

Every claxon and alarm in his head suddenly went off.

Someone was opposing him.

Who had his powers.

Who was on the Samurai's side.

Those powers included opening time portals.

 _ **THIS WAS A VERY BAD THING.**_

Her arm stretch to grab his sword. He knew her next move. If it succeeded, checkmate. Game over.

A fist the size of a small house crashed into her, slamming her into the rock wall.

" _Ashi!"_ cried his mortal enemy, and then he turned to give Aku…

That Look.

He could not flee. Ashi had his power, and that included endurance and surviving things a woman had no business surviving. He either killed both of them here, now, or all was lost.

Jack could fell an army when calm. Now, he was furious and charging with a weapon that treated his regeneration like wet toilet paper.

And Ashi was getting back up.

In a split second he realized the dilemma. If he ignored Jack, he'd kill him. If he ignored Ashi, even if he killed Jack, she'd go back in time and help his past self.

The Scotsman, an intangible ghost, loomed overhead. The music _wracked_ him, made him unable to concentrate, and dissolved his dark powers. He could only assume that the ghost could do that indefinitely, because that was Aku's luck.

Shit.

 _Shit._

 _SHIT._

 _ **SHIT!**_

No more theatrics. No more pride. No more holding back.

He dodged Jack's first strike, and let out a roar that echoed across the earth.

" **EVERYONE! TO ME! NOW!"**

…

The depraved, the sadistic, the wretched and perverse, those who had been exiled on pain of death from their world or were hunted relentlessly through the cosmos knew one thing.

Earth was a haven.

Aku didn't just not give a damn if you decided to go on a rampage of raping, pillaging, and burning, he _welcomed_ you. Every single mass-murderer was another obstacle for this "Jack" that had been a pain in his ass for so long. Every day he spent saving a village was one he wasn't spending tracking Aku or a now extinct time portal down.

It didn't matter if you have so much blood on your hands it can- and _had-_ stained an ocean planet, Aku welcomed you.

It didn't matter if you had committed so much rape that every single space pirate wanted to kill you not for a bounty, but out of sheer _outrage,_ Aku would direct you to a village. A very unprotected one.

It didn't matter if you went to a thriving galaxy, in which the horrors of war and crime, famine and disease were things of the past, set it's Sun into supernova, and then used EMP weapons to stall any evacuation attempts, all just to see what would happen, Aku had a place for you among his many scientists and was eager to hear your project's results.

There was one caveat, though.

When Aku said jump, you jumped.

When Aku said kill the Samurai, you drew lots to see who went, and those chosen wrote up their wills.

And when Aku said _everyone to me, NOW,_ you dropped what you were doing and you went.

Because if Aku was ever killed, if the master of masters was ever slain, if the Shogun of Sorrow ever fell…

Then the reason all the bounty hunters, rapist-hating pirates, and every single morally outraged person had for avoiding Earth and its solar system like a plague vanished.

And when Aku was gone, they would come for you.

…

Aku was losing.

Every nick from the sword was agony, and the rebel army, Jack, and Ashi had figured out his game plan- stop Ashi from creating a portal.

The rebel army- what remained of it- could only annoy him. He had to endure their mosquito-bite attacks, lest he let Jack land a serious blow, or let Ashi form a complete portal.

AND THE BAGPIPES!

He tried to remain calm, imposing, the darting, weaving chess master of darkness, but after the seventh brain-rattling deluge of Scottish caterwauling…

" **I WILL PERSONALLY FLAY EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR DAUGHTERS** _ **ALIVE**_ **IF YOU DON'T STOP THAT INFERNA** _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!**_ **"**

Jack's sword bit into his side deeply, and he backpedaled, only barely distracting Ashi with a thrust lance of darkness.

"Big talk from someone who's barely holdin' on, ya big babeh!" The Scotsman jeered.

 _Where were they?_

Where was his back up, his last line of defenses-

Rockets and laser fire pelted the earth where Ashi had been seconds ago as she desperately darted away.

" **FINALLY!"** he cried out in exasperation. **"FOCUS YOUR FIRE ON THE GIRL AND THE SAMURAI! DON'T STOP UNTIL THEY ARE NOTHING BUT ASH! AND IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY INKLING OF MAGIC WHATSOEVER, SHUT** _ **THAT INFERNAL GHOST UP!**_ **"**

…

This is what it meant to be part of the rebel army, at that moment.

There are two possible favorable outcomes for you- one, the one you'd planned on, is that Jack kills Aku. No omnipotent deity of evil means that there's no organization to the many gangs, bandits, and scum that he has grip over.

The second is that Ashi, who that crazy bagpipe playing ghost says can send Jack back into the past, sends him back, hopefully to end this before it ever starts-

Which may mean you don't exist.

But Aku has killed your loved ones. So FUCK him.

So you ignore your wounds as best you can and try to distract him, because even if you fall, it will be worth it.

Valhalla or Heaven.

A world without Aku, one way or another.

And now, you have one ghost who is playing music that _hurts_ Aku, the Samurai has his sword, and the woman who was _infected, maybe_ by Aku has suddenly turned on him and the ghost with the bagpipes is telling you to give her breathing room so she can make a portal to the past-

And Aku is losing.

He can't think fast enough, Jack's blows and the bagpipes are weakening him.

The scales will tip. Soon. _You're winning._

Then every single horrible thing in the world suddenly arrives.

…

To try and give a blow by blow account of the battle would be fruitless, as it was pandemonium.

Those not already slain steeled themselves as the most horrific abominations of flesh, metal, and magic charged down on them, raining missiles and lasers, plasma and poison.

Aku is aware of how Jack's tactics will change.

The foolish Samurai is a defender of his people, so when those people are set upon by hordes of merciless thugs, drooling at the sight of the Scotsman's daughters, he steels himself to fight them all.

Ashi swaps her tactics from "find room to make a portal" to "vaporize anything that threatens Jack".

The Scotsman tries to keep Aku distracted. Key word, tries. There are a number of sorcerers among Aku's faithful, and though they can't attack him directly, they set to bolstering Aku with unholy magicks and wreaking havoc on the rebel army with gouts of flame and lightning, meaning what was once a decisive detriment to Aku's power becomes only an momentary irritation, as the Scotsman is divided between distracting Aku and countering unholy spells.

So here Aku is. His foes are barraged, his hated enemy is distracted, and his traitorous "daughter" is trying her best to defend her lover.

He _could_ step back and let his armies finish them.

He _could_ do that, and mock the Samurai and his allies…

But that is the old Aku.

That's theatrics.

And so in a moment of dark humility, realizing that his hubris has cost him time and time and time again, Aku assesses the situation with an analytical coldness.

The rebel army was a nuisance, not a threat.

The Scotsman was a nuisance, maybe a threat later…

Jack was an immediate threat…

Ashi was a threat times infinity, he saw now, her taking Jack back or even going back herself meant everything was lost.

Ashi was defending her lover.

The solution for the most dire problem at hand became readily apparent in a stroke of dark genius.

" **FOCUS ALL FIRE AND SPELLS ON THE SAMURAI, NOW!"**

His armies- for _once_ in a lifetime of incompetence and disappointment, complied, and as expected, Ashi uses her arms and eye beams to intercept the barrages that Jack cannot dodge…

…and leaves _herself_ open.

She doesn't realize what's going on until the second spear from Aku has pierced her throat, then four more through her chest, then another through her stomach, then she is not so much a threat as a pincushion, and she falls, pain and despair in her eyes-

-and as a coup de grace, he rips _away that_ power he infused her with, and a voice in the back of his head chides him, _Why the hell didn't I do that first?_

Next problem.

The Samurai looked to his fallen lover, her mouth moving wordlessly… maybe she's mouthing a final farewell or a warning, who cares…

The Samurai turned to him.

There is…

There is no sound to _describe_ it, unless Aku wanted to believe every single god of good suddenly screamed in anger, as the Samurai _fucking loses his shit._

Aku lost 25% of his army before his brain suddenly screamed, **THIS IS A VERY, VERY BAD THING.**

Note to self: Killing the one person someone ever loved might _not_ break them immediately, but turn them into a tornado of fury.

50% gone. Reflection time was over.

"DAMN YOU, AKU! DAMN YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY!" screamed Jack as he dealt a glancing but painful blow before decapitating several more sorcerers.

" **Oh, you're just mad because I penetrated her before you did-"**

He met the Samurai's eyes. Pure, unchecked hatred.

Several agonizing slashes later and a desperate backpedaling from the screaming chainsaw of rage, Aku decided to cut the jokes. More of his allies fell upon the Samurai- all were viciously and rapidly dealt with without landing so much as a scratch.

As he dodged and Jack cut down his army in his rage, Aku realized he'd just created an even bigger problem. The Samurai was deeply in love with his daughter, and now that she lay dying…

… _Idea._

He looked behind the Samurai, and widened his eyes. **"HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET HEALED?!"**

Jack turned. "Ashi?!" he said hopefully…

It only took a split second to realize he'd been suckered.

It might as well have been an eternity.

It was too humane, perforating him like he had Ashi. A proper execution would have been burning at the stake, boiling in oil, anything to break him and make him scream, to make the world watch as the one who could defy him fell dead.

 **THEATRICS.**

Theatrics got you killed. Split seconds meant death.

Never again.

He reeled back to dodge the Samurai's counter-stroke.

The perforated warrior staggered over to Ashi, coughing…

Her arm twitched, her lips moved.

He fell beside her in with a thud he could hear despite the din of battle.

Out of instinct, he prepared for the surprise attack, even as his hated enemy weakly gripped Ashi's extended hand as both lay in a pool of blood.

He would rise and sweep at his lower mass with a horizontal-

 _No, too obvious._

He would jump and deliver a feinting vertical slash, then sacrifice that for three weaker cuts-

 _No, he tried that before, he never tries the same trick twice-_

"Jackie? JACKIE!" The Scotsman screamed in horror.

The rebel army and his forces stopped with a mix of gasps and screams.

Aku blinked, waiting for the deception to pass.

Trickery. Ninja trickery. The bodies would turn to straw or ash, and he'd be right behind HIM-

He turned. Turned back.

He focused his eyes.

There was no pulse from either of them.

 _There was no pulse from either of them._

"Huh." He coughed.

But that meant no more Jack.

But that meant-

" **Heheh."**

 _But that meant there was no one else._

" **Bwe… heh heh ha ha, HA HA HA HA HA HA-"**

Aku, for the first time in fifty years, bellowed in unchecked joy.

" **He is DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"**

His armies looked, not daring to believe it… and slowly, they began to cheer, an unholy jubilation at the death of the one who had slain so many.

" **Now, then…"** he said, grin spreading uncontrollably. _**"Now, then."**_

He could kill them all.

Quickly, or slowly. There was… there was no one to stop him. At all.

Even if someone did pick up his blade, they could at best rush him fruitlessly, only to be vaporized.

No… No. He would offer… clemency.

" **Foolish mortals that you are, you can only be expected to follow false hope blindly. Such disloyalty demands death, but I am in a merciful mood. The first twenty people to use their bodies as a toilet walk away from here. No questions asked."** He offered.

Desecrate the bodies of their champions. Turn their back on hope and accept the world that was Aku, and kill the rest as a warning…

One raver girl, clutching a broken arm, stepped forward, looked up at him…

…and spat.

"FUCK YOU."

"We will fight… to the very last. Never again will we be afraid. Never again will we serve out of fear." She coughed, then drew a deep breath, clearly costing her what little strength she had left, she bellowed.

" **FOR THE SAMURAI!"**

" **FOR THE SAMURAI!"** called Rothschild, battered but unbowed.

" **FOR THE SAMURAI!"** echoed the Scotsman's daughters.

The rest of the shell-shocked army echoed the battle cry, and Aku let out a heavy sigh.

He turned to his army, a long-suffering look of disappointment on his face.

" **You all see this, right?"** he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. **"You can offer them chance after chance. You can show mercy. You can try to educate them in how the world does and does not work. You can offer them a chance to save themselves when they have betrayed you…"**

Aku turned, tempering his undiluted joy (the Samurai was dead, the Samurai _was dead!_ ) with a veneer of fury…

"… **and the only thing they will ever understand are the languages of destruction and pain. Fortunately, I am fluent in both."**

A new sight caught his eye.

Next to the corpses- an older man, in his fifties, solemnly took the Samurai's sword. Orange-red hair.

He wore a gi like the Samurai, maybe out of tribute.

It was apparent this man had been working out. Even at his age, his stance was disciplined, and the glare he gave Aku said he had no fucks left to give.

 _Who is this guy?_ Was Aku's question.

The response he gave himself, sadly, was _I don't care._

The man started to speak. Aku lazily vaporized him with a blast from his eye beams, turning to sweep the entire battlefield in unholy fire-

…

It had been a stupid move, George realized.

But the Samurai had saved his life as a baby, had taught him in infancy what it meant to stand up to the wicked, and he'd be damned if he just ignored him in his most desperate hour.

But he'd come too late.

His hero, his idol, the savior of the world- Samurai Jack- lay dead in a pool of his own blood, clutching the hand of some unknown girl.

Maybe a lover.

Charging with the sword was suicidal. Sure, he'd trained, but he wasn't Samurai Jack.

Aku's look had been annoyance before his eyes blasted him with what felt like the sun's wrath.

Oh well.

Maybe the afterlife would let him meet Jack in person…

"I say, that was rather foolish. Courageous, but foolish." Came a cultured voice.

"Well, it wasn't like he weren't goin' teh kill alla us anyway." Came a resigned, Scottish voice.

He opened his eyes.

They- he and the rebel army- were floating through what seemed to be an infinite starscape.

"We're dead, aren't we?" The defiant raver girl asked, examining her now uninjured arm.

"I'm afraid so." Rothchild, the canine archeologist, said sadly. "At least we are free of Aku."

"Where Jack?" asked the odd white-haired jumping man, almost hidden among the white monkey tribe.

"If there is any justice in the afterlife, he is with his family." Answered the Spartan.

"Rather sad, really." A Triseraquin said ruefully. "In the end, Aku simply crushed us all like flies."

"Sometimes…" the Scotsman said sadly, now whole and solid, "…sometimes the vill'in wins."

"NO." a voice, clear and powerful, resounded through the cosmic sea.

Before them, without fanfare or flashy light, appeared three… there was no other word for it, deities.

Ra, with a falcon's head.

Rama, with six arms and a bow.

Odin, great and glorious, one-eyed and solemn.

"EVIL CANNOT TRIUMPH SO LONG AS ONE WORTHY SOUL REMAINS." Odin boomed.

"THE SAMURAI'S BLADE WAS MADE OF A SPIRIT THAT COULD NOT BE BROKEN." Rama spoke.

"EVEN NOW, SUCH A WORTHY SPIRIT EXISTS." Ra said, his gaze sweeping over the army.

"One of… us?" The Scotsman said, confused.

"NO, NOT ONE OF YOU." Odin spoke as his good eye shone brilliantly.

"ANYONE CAN SAY THEY WOULD FIGHT TO THE END FOR GOOD, BUT HOW MANY WILL ACTUALLY DO IT?" asked Rama rhetorically.

"ANYONE CAN CLAIM TO RESIST EVIL, BUT HOW MANY HAVE THE STRENGTH TO DO IT WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST?"

George's eyes widened. "You mean…"

"NOT ONE OF YOU. ALL OF YOU."

Rays of iridescent light shot from the three deities' eyes, extracting the righteous fury from every member of the rebel army.

The cosmic sea echoed with the clanging of divine hammers, forging new weapons.

…

" **Well, that was fun."** Aku said, rolling his shoulders. **"So, any ideas what we do with the bodies of my hated enemy and traitorous daughter?"**

"Leave them to the crows?" suggested one.

" **Nah. Too boring."** Aku declined.

"Nail them to your fortress walls?"

" **Mmmmmm… no. Too cliché."**

"Turn them into puppets and act out scenes mocking their love life for children?" suggested another.

Aku and the rest of his forces turned to face the last suggestor, a fat, balding man in powered armor.

" **That's… revulsive. That's the most unbelievably perverse thing I've ever heard. Never, in a million years, would I** _ **ever**_ **consider such a flagrant cruelty, to use on** _ **children,**_ **no less!"** Aku's outraged indignation shook the battlefield with it's fury.

" **I** _ **like**_ **it."** He concluded. **"We'll need preservatives, maybe new costumes…"**

A brilliant flash of light erupted from the dead rebel army.

" **Oh, what** _ **now?**_ _"_ Aku asked, turning. **"I swear, you people never know when to…"**

His eyes widened.

The red-haired man stood, unsinged, holding Jack's katana.

So did Rothchild.

Each of the Spartans brandished an identical blade.

The white monkey tribe held their swords in overhead positions, legs bent.

Each of the Scotsman's daughters held a blade in their hand.

The Spartans.

The Ravers.

The _Triseraquins._

A rumble caught his attention. He turned to see a repaired stone samurai, towering to match his height.

The metal of its sword now gleamed with the same holy power Jack's had.

Aku blinked once. **"What… the… fu-"**

" _ **FOR THE SAMURAI!"**_ bellowed the same raver that had spat at him.

(It is not entirely necessary, but advised, that one starts listening to "Row, Row, fight the Powah" or Final Fantasy's "Battle on the Big Bridge" here.)

And with a roar, they charged…

 _Okay, Aku, keep calm, deflector shields and replicas, all to try and get you to freak out. Swat them like flies, and they'll lose their calm…_

His left hand crashed down, narrowly missing a group of Spartans, and they slashed, each blow sending burning, agonizing pain as the holy blades burned away the essence that was Aku.

 _No._

The Ravers feinted and hacked at his base, and he shrank back.

 _No!_

The canine archeologists held their larger blades in their liftcraft's claws, jetting forward, using laser fire and slashes to carve up the rest of his army and keep him off balance.

Spartan and Scotsman's daughters rushed to back up the Raver's, as his army was rapidly demolished.

 _ **No no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO**_

He blasted at them with laser eyebeams, only for the attack to be blocked by the Stone Samurai's massive blade.

He tried to crush them with massive paws, flailing tails, and every thing he could think to shapeshift into, but the hardier ones simply cleaved through his attack, and the nimbler ones dodged _then_ slashed at him-

The white monkey tribe's flying assault turned from annoying to deadly, each blow carving into him burning wounds.

He turned to flee into the air, only to meet the flying ravers and archeologists, the Triseraquins, and the Scotsman, all forming a barrier to block his retreat.

"Yer not goin' anywhere, murderer." The Scotsman's ghost growled, once jovial boisterousness replaced with cold fury.

In that moment, Aku felt a cold lump twisting itself in a place a mortal would call it's stomach.

This, he knew now, was terror.

…

Ashi stumbled through the misty vapors.

She had awoken, draped in what appeared to be a robe… or gi… like Jack's, only suited to her body…

…which was now curiously absent of perforations or Aku's power.

"Jack? Jack?" she called. "Jack?..."

If this was hell, she expected more fire…

…there he was.

He knelt, head bowed, face downcast.

"Jack? Are you okay?"

He looked up at her, a horrible broken look on his face.

"Jack, oh Jack, thank the gods you're okay! I was so worried I'd-"

"I failed, Ashi." He said flatly.

"I failed them, I failed my parents, and I failed you."

He returned to looking at the ground.

"So… my long lost son arrives."

Jack's head shot up.

There, in an elegant robe, arms folded behind his back, his wooden geta clacking as he walked forward, was an older man.

"Father…" Jack spoke.

"Your mother and I have been waiting for you." he said simply. "Your ancestors all want to meet you."

Jack lowered his head. "No. I don't… I don't deserve to join them father. I have _failed._ Aku… Aku has won."

Ashi turned to the man, then on impulse threw herself to her knees. "Sir… it's not his fault! I insisted on joining him, Aku used me as a weapon, and I-"

"Ashi, you did everything you could, you fought back and-"

"I wasn't fast enough Jack, I distracted you-"

"Distracted? You saved me and fought off Aku, I let my anger-"

 _Whap._

The man executed two perfectly synchronized- yet restrained- dope slaps on both kneeling young adults' heads.

"Enough. You truly think you failed, my son?"

Jack blinked in confusion. "…Aku… killed me. I didn't manage to return to the past to stop him."

"Oh?" Jack's father raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, do you remember what I told you what you must learn to do, as the emperor's son? It's not about just issuing orders, or living a high-class life, or knowing a hundred inane rituals or customs… it's about leading by example. Inspiring others. As for returning to the past… well, who knows what could happen if you were to interfere with the flow of time? It is… sad that I did not get to watch you grow up. Sad that you were denied your birthright to be emperor. But you have. Not. Failed. Me." He said, punctuating his last words for emphasis.

"And you, young woman." He said, turning to Ashi. "So many bent to Aku's will of their own volition, and even when they saw past his lies, they willingly deceived themselves. Only a strong mind and a pure heart could ever, in a million years, hope to overcome his direct possession, let alone turn his power _against_ him."

Both considered this briefly.

"But father, all is lost. He will surely crush those who came to help me, their families!..."

His father chuckled. "Have you so little faith in your allies?" he said, pointing to the left.

Both heads turned as a portal opened.

Jack stepped closer to watch, and his eyes widened…

The canine archeologists wielded katanas like his.

The white monkey tribe jumped and slashed, cutting away at Aku bit by bit…

As tears filled his eyes and pride swelled in his heart, he realized…

"They're worthy." He said, voice trembling as Ashi put a hand on his shoulder. "They're… _**all worthy...**_ "

…

This is how Aku, Master of Masters, Shogun of Sorrow, dies.

Mortals he would consider barely even worth his notice suddenly rise from the dead brandishing swords forged from a righteousness inspired by his now dead enemy, and infuriated by the loss of their savior, charge to avenge him and his lover.

When he sweeps with blacks scythes and massive claws, Scotswomen and Spartans cut them back.

When he tries to produce soldiers of his own mass to overwhelm them, the ravers, Triseaquans, woolies and Blind Archer's tribes sweep in to strike them down.

When he belches fire and fires lasers, the Stone Samurai blocks all assaults with its massive blade.

And the white monkey tribe and their elder but spry human leader jump and dart, delivering a death by a thousand burning cuts…

Seeing an opening, the robots direct their commandeered Stone Samurai to deliver a powerful overhead slash, and Aku, in agony, doesn't notice the blade until it's between his eyes.

Splitting him in two.

Like a horde of army ants, they descend on his falling halves, cutting and cutting and cutting **and cutting.**

In those final moments, Aku realizes that Jack has had the last laugh.

His courage did not die with him- like a candle, it lit many other candles, and he was so focused on snuffing out one that he didn't see the sea of burning righteousness rising up to beat back the darkness.

This is what the wicked fear.

That the end of one hero will simply mean more will rise to take their place.

 _ **This isn't fair,**_ he thinks as the hordes descend on his one remaining eye, all that remains of the once invincible Aku.

 _ **This isn't fa**_

SLASH

…

For a moment, they just stared at the last cinders that were the Shogun of Sorrow.

Then, the cheering began. Shouts of joy, cries of relief, battlecries from the Spartans, hooting and hollering from the white monkey tribe.

They had won. The long, dark nightmare that was Aku was over for good.

Then, one by one, the laughter and cheering died as they turned to face the fallen samurai and the girl who had done the unthinkable and turned Aku's power against him.

Breathless and still, they grasped each other's hands.

One of the Scotsman's daughters walked over to the two prone bodies as others held hats over their hearts or began to weep, and another of her sisters joined her.

"I'll get him." The older said, fighting back tears. "Can you carry 'is lover?"

"Aye." The younger said softly, bending down to pick up the fallen woman as respectfully as she could.

The trek back to the nearest city to spread the news was a long, silent, solemn one.

…

The bustling city, named "Megapolis 1-C9", a cold, sterile name of efficiency, did not bustle on that day. No massive traffic of hovercars, or maddened frenzies at the Omni-mall.

The news that Aku was dead, and with him almost all of his loyalists, was one that spread cheers and joyous celebration all over Earth, until the price of the victory was mentioned.

Samurai Jack was dead.

Not missing in action, not "we found his sword and tattered hat", but a sadly confirmed true and total death.

Most did not know of Ashi, and thought she was just another casuality. Then rumor spread about how she had broken free to defend Jack, how she had turned Aku's power against him, and most tragically, the final grasping of hands between what many believed- and the Scotsman's ghost affirmed- were lovers.

So on this somber day, as the street's sidewalks were filled with silent mourners observing the funeral procession, it was decided if she was good enough for Jack, she was good enough for anyone.

Ashi was to be buried alongside their savior.

Spartans and Blind Archer Tribesmen carried Jack's casket, and the Scotsman's daughters bore Ashi's. All wore their new swords at their sides, sheathed.

Even creatures not deemed to be intelligent enough to _know_ were in attendance. A giant sea serpent held it's held downward alongside a massive white bird's, in what could only be seen as a sign of unbearable grief.

At the head of the procession, the spectral blue ghost of the Scotsman proceeded before the march, playing "Amazing Grace" on his bagpipes.

The burial site was chosen to be what was once a massive prison for dissidents, now torn down and rebuilt as a memorial to the hero who had shown them the way to make themselves free.

The massive screens, once used to advertise and proclaim Aku's law, now were used to broadcast the funeral to all who could not fit into the massive memorial site.

…

"I don't think he really had anything to gain from helping us." Admitted Rothchild.

"We had no information on time portals. We had no information on Aku's weaknesses. We had nothing but our loyalty as it was to offer, and he still came to us in our time of need."

"Fighting on our behalf cost him time, energy, and injury. And yet, never once did he blame us. Never once did he insult us or called us cowards." Rothchild bowed his head.

"Without him, we'd still be digging up crystals for Aku."

…

"We betrayed him." The Triseraquin said. "It was because Aku threatened us, but we, in our weakness, betrayed him. Lied to him."

"…and yet he saved us. And all he asked in return was for some crawfish."

"I've heard it said, without the sword, he was powerless. That, friends, is a lie. The sword may have been the only weapon that hurt Aku, but without someone like Samurai Jack to wield it, it was worthless."

…

"Yeh all know that if Aku gets yeh into one of his 're-education camps' or, Gods help yeh, turns his dark powers on yeh himself, then yer family and friends may as well start mournin' fer yeh, because everythin' you were is goin' to be gone."

"From what we know, Ashi was… raised to kill teh Samurai. From birth onward, her bitch o' a mother taught her nothin' but fightin', all for the sake of servin' Aku."

"What happen'd between her and Jack that turned them from enemies te lovers, I dinnae know." She said sadly. "What I do know? When that bastard Aku forced his evil into her, and Jack called out to her to fight it… she not only broke free, but turned the bastard's black power back on 'im, and fought to the bitter end."

She bit her lip, inhaled, forced herself not to cry. "…when they died, they died holdin' hands. If there's any justice at all in the world, they're together now, smilin' down on all of us."

"For any of yeh who might think ill o' here, remember- Jack was the one who saw the good in anyone, big or small. And if he saw e'nuff good in 'er to want her as a lover, that should put _any_ questions to bed."

…

Jack tried to speak, but words would not form in his throat.

Ashi could not longer see for the tears in her eyes, but her smile remained.

One by one, those he'd helped and those she'd saved in that battle came forward to testify.

As their caskets were settled into their final resting place, all who were at the final battle drew their swords and saluted one last time, bidding their heroes farewell.

"I've heard many, many things from Gods, and Goddesses, and sons of Gods. One struck home with me." Jack's father said. "There is no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friends. You both did more than just slay Aku. You ensured that if ever another evil comes to this world, their children will remember- they don't need to wait for a hero to save them."

Jack blinked as he focused on one, and he pointed. "Is… is that…"

"George did not forget the lessons he learned from his brief study under your wing." His father affirmed. "No one did."

Jack wiped away a tear, smiling, then turned to Ashi.

"I'm so sorry." He said, bowing his head. "If I had been quicker…"

"Don't apologize." Ashi said, reaching up to touch his face. "You are **worth** dying for."

He reached out to touch her cheek, smiling.

The Emperor cleared his throat. "…I… wish to speak to your… lover, as it were."

Ashi blinked, then turned to face his father.

"I've seen you. I've seen you grow from blind hate to see the truth, to embrace it regardless of the cost. I've seen you defend my son with your life, even if it meant fighting your own mother." He said solemnly.

"I cannot give you a childhood that a daughter such as you deserves. But it would honor me and my wife if you would become our daughter in law."

"Do you mean-" gasped Jack.

"Can we-" Ashi asked breathlessly.

The Emperor simply nodded.

Jack turned, grabbing Ashi's hands. "Ashi, love of my life, will you give me your hand in-"

"YES!" she squealed happily. "YES! YES! YES! YES!"

They embraced shamelessly, and Jack's father pretended to be very interested in the fog.

…

Very little more needs be said.

The wedding was done in a traditional Japanese fashion, and all who had trained the Samurai and had awaited the day that Aku would be struck down were in attendance, and they let out cheers and whoops when Jack and his bride Ashi were pronounced husband and wife for all eternity.

For the sake of decency, little will be said of their time spent together after that, or the century's worth of time they spent in a sort of honeymoon, talking, laughing, and doing things to one another that the Kama Sutra excluded out of virtue of physical impossibility.

What should be said is that those who bore the swords of light passed them and their story down through the ages, and told them of the sacrifice of a man and woman, and how their courage had inspired them.

There were horrors in the universe. Some less than Aku, some greater. But eventually, they all had one thing in common, a bit of wisdom they shared among each other as a rule of basic survival.

Don't go to Earth unless you have a death wish.

…

There may be some confusion, especially with later stories, as to which one is 'canon', as far as my insanity goes.

You, of course, dear reader, may believe whatever you wish to.

To quote a dear friend of mine, "If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"


End file.
